I don’t follow celebrity divorces much, but one recent Hollywood split inspired a reader to recommend this week’s song lyric. He writes: “In the wake of Sandra Bullock’s marital betrayal by Jesse James, I was a little startled by this lyric to “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” (sung by Linda Ronstadt, not Warren Zevon, the lyrics’ author) when it came on the radio recently.”
Well I met a man out in Hollywood
Now I ain’t naming names
Well he really worked me over good
Just like Jesse James
Yes he really worked me over good
He was a credit to his gender
Put me through some changes Lord
Sort of like a Waring blenderPoor poor pitiful me
Poor poor pitiful me
Oh these boys won’t let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Woe woe is me
The song, written and first performed by Zevon was allegedly written to mock Jackson Browne. True or not, the song was somewhat successful as recorded by Rondstadt and, more recently, by Terri Clark. Here are the full lyrics, Linda Ronstadt performing in 1977 and for the Clintons, and Terri Clark’s more recent version.
And here’s a brief item for those, like me, who needed an update on the Bullock-James divorce.